The DfMA designer finds the most suitable innovations in the MMC toolkit (or develops new innovations) to meet a project’s unique challenges..

As in so many other areas of our lives, COVID-19 has created new challenges within the architecture and design space, with clients now regularly requesting COVID-secure design.The idea of designing for COVID is very compatible with sustainable design’s broader focus on health and wellbeing, and ties in nicely with the WELL Building Standard.

This American rating system, launched in 2013 and now in the UK, challenges the built environment from a wellness perspective, while the UK’s earlier environmental assessment method, BREEAM, also places some attention on things like thermal comfort and air volumes.In the case of designing for COVID, the most obvious starting point is to look at the airflow of a building — how it might move through an office floor plate, for example.Here, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offers us a way to address the challenge using a process based on mathematical modelling..

Passive design measures also form a key part of a sustainable design strategy.We must consider elements such as building orientation, the optimisation of facades to balance seasonal heat loss and gain, enhancing daylight and using natural or mixed-mode ventilation.

To truly achieve sustainability in design, we should use passive design measures as much as we can to address health and wellness related challenges, as we search for a balance between wellness and energy efficiency.

If we’re pumping air into our buildings to make sure the environment is clean, are we wasting energy?With changing market dynamics and growing environmental concerns, there's an urgent need to maximise energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprints.

Computational Fluid Dynamics provides the potential for a detailed and accurate insight into the operation of the data centre, throughout the design process.This is incredibly useful to highlight any risks within the design, but it also allows for multiple design options to be tested at an early design stage, highlighting potential opportunities for lowering energy consumption and carbon emission.

These strategies can include reducing storey heights, optimising Hot Aisle Containment (HAC) required and reducing the clearances between data racks leading to a smaller data hall footprint.. At Bryden Wood, we advocate for a broader application of CFD in optimising and innovating data centre design, aiming for a more sustainable future within the industry.. Data Hall Design Optimisation.CFD Analysis of a Switch Room.